Global Launch Smart Scaling of Pre-primary Education: Launching the Global ECE Accelerator Toolkit

Smart Scaling of Pre-primary Education: Launching the Global ECE Accelerator Toolkit

The importance of quality early childhood education is reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals, as target 4.2 calls for access to quality pre-primary education for all children. To achieve this ambition, one vital solution is to ensure that pre-primary education is systematically integrated into the national cycles of education sector planning and policy implementation.

This webinar, co-organized by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), UNICEF and ECDAN, will provide insights into this innovative approach and launch the global ECE Accelerator Toolkit to support countries with effective planning and implementation of ECE programs. The vision is to engage more countries and partners in this approach, put to use the global toolkit and learn from countries’ ongoing efforts and successes.

Register here for the event. 

Building Back Better: Stories of Hope And Resilience 6

Governments around the world should pay attention to play. By doing so, they get to do the proverbial ‘killing of two birds with one stone’. Play is the right of the child, supported by both the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the international Convention on the Rights of the Child. It’s also a pathway to boosting children’s development, promoting lifelong… read more

WEBINAR SERIES ON PLAYFUL PARENTING ONGOING

This will be a three-part webinar series on Playful Parenting. Each webinar will be conducted from 3 pm - 4:30 pm EAT and translated accordingly in

English, Portuguese and French, as follows:

• In partnership with the CSO Forum AfECN will launch the first of the four-part Playful Parenting webinar series on 25th November 2020, themed ‘The Child’s Right to Play’.

• The first-part webinar will be held in partnership with UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa (ESARO) office, on 2nd December 2020 will be themed “Building systems to support the child’s Right to Play

• The second -part webinar will be held in partnership with UNICEF West and Central Africa Regional Office WCARO will be themed ‘Playful, Joyful Parenting at Home’.

Read More…

Building Back Better: Stories of Hope And Resilience 5

The onset of COVID-19 has been described by Jaime Saavedra, Global Director for Education, as the “largest simultaneous shock to all education systems in our lifetimes” (World Bank 2020). The resultant lockdowns and school closures have exacerbated a…Read More

Building Back Better: Stories of Hope And Resilience 4

Thato is one of about 40 million pre-schoolers who have had to stay home
because of country lockdowns placing their early education and readiness for
primary school at risk. The COVID-19 virus knows no borders or boundaries. By
April of this year…Read More.

Building Back Better: Stories of Hope And Resilience 3

If there is one silver lining to the COVID-19 crisis, it’s probably the growing appreciation of childcare as an essential service and backbone to the growth and development of our economies. Maniza Ntekim, UNICEF’s Regional Advisor for East and Southern Africa, reminds us of the importance of early childhood services, noting particularly that “If we leave early childhood education behind, we leave learning behind. If we are serious about tackling inequality, addressing the learning crisis, and making education systems work better, we have to scale up investment in early childhood education during and after this pandemic.” Read More…

Building Back Better: Stories of Hope And Resilience 2

Inequalities and school readiness gaps are exacerbated by the prolonged closure of early childhood development centres around the world because of COVID-19. While they are not the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, children of all ages, are aected, especially socio-economically, with the most severe impact being felt by the most vulnerable. Supporting and equipping parents and community workers to stimulate playful learning at home can help to keep children’s early development on track. It can also contribute to building back better as the knowledge and skills to sustain these positive parent-child interactions remains, even when centres reopen.

In an attempt to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus Botswana like… Read More

Building Back Better: Stories of Hope And Resilience 1

Every day, and especially during times of crisis, young children depend on adults to love, protect and care for them.  As parents, teachers, ECD practitioners, and activists, our work with children is an essential service. Speaking up for children, finding ways to make sure they are supported and nurtured, is critical to their wellbeing today and to their future learning, productivity and happiness.

In this blog, we share 3 stories from South Africa.  Each sheds light on actions that we can take to keep children on track and ensure none are left behind. Read more…

Africa Early Childhood Research Fellowship Program

AfECN activities to improve research capacity are being led by a Regional Research Technical Team (RRTT) comprised of accomplished ECD scholars and researchers in the continent. AfECN is currently in the process of recruiting the 3rd Cohort which is planned to have four (4) junior research fellows. The first and second cohorts of Research Fellows were recruited in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The first cohort had 13 research fellows whereas the second cohort had seven (7) research fellows.

Application procedure:

Qualified and interested applicants are invited to complete and send in their application by Monday Aug 30, 2020 (11:59 GMT+3). The applications and any inquiries should be submitted to the following address: research@afecn.org.

Application form: Click here

Les activités de l’AfECN visant à améliorer les capacités de recherche sont dirigées par une équipe technique régionale de recherche (ETRR) composée d’universitaires et de chercheurs éminents en DPE sur le continent. L’AfECN est actuellement en train de recruter la 3e cohorte qui devrait compter quatre (4) boursiers de recherche juniors. La première et la deuxième cohortes de boursiers de recherche ont été recrutées en 2017 et 2018, respectivement. La première cohorte comptait 13 boursiers de recherche, tandis que la deuxième cohorte comptait sept (7) boursiers de recherche.

Procédure de candidature :

Les candidats qualifiés et intéressés sont invités à remplir et à envoyer leur dossier de candidature au plus tard le lundi 31 août 2020 (11:59 GMT+3). Les candidatures et toute demande de renseignements doivent être envoyées à l’adresse suivante : research@afecn.org.

Formulaire de candidature: cliquez ici

Advocacy Capacity Building Online Sessions: Cohort 1 June - Aug 2020

Advocacy Capacity Building

Advocacy at global, regional, and sub national national level plays a critical role in advancing early childhood development. This includes support to prioritization, increased financing, equitable access, quality improvement, strengthened collaboration, rapid scale-up and increased impact of early childhood programmes. In support of the Nurturing Care Framework and supporting guidelines developed to provide direction for strengthening policies and programmes to better address early childhood development, AfECN with the support of Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has developed a regional advocacy capacity building programme. The regional advocacy capacity building programme aims to provide a sustained platform for supporting countries across the region to develop SMART advocacy strategies to targeting various challenges countries face in the design and implementation of early childhood programmes. The programme targets country teams that include government, civil society organizations, academia and community representatives.

The regional advocacy capacity building programme builds off a regional advocacy strategy that identifies the critical ECD risks and challenges and systemic weaknesses common to the region and recommends clear advocacy actions. It is supported by a 10 step road map for guiding countries in developing nationally aligned SMART advocacy strategies that identify the scale, scope and nature of the priority gaps and weaknesses in various countries, and then supports a step-by-step process for developing responsive strategies for an appropriately strengthened system.

The advocacy strategy is accompanied by a tool box that builds on the ten steps. depicted below. following diagram:

The key tools to support the capacity-building programme include:

1.       A situation analysis which identifies common strategic nurturing care priorities and systemic weaknesses across Africa

2.       A scorecard to assess the status of nurturing care and supporting systems in each country as measured against the identified priorities

3.       A tool box to support the analysis of the scorecard and use of collected data to develop an evidence-based, legally grounded advocacy strategy to strengthen the system and improve the nurturing care deficits in each of the countries

Each of the participating countries will select a team of advocacy champions to lead and coordinate the co-development of a national advocacy strategy together with a wider group of national early childhood actors and partners. The champions will participate in a series of capacity-building sessions which will support the teams navigate the ten steps to developing their SMART strategies using the Tool Box as the basis for the process.

For more information, write to info@afecn.org